I present to you an ordinary mirror– a poem in which I will attempt to recreate a memory before your very eyes–a dangerous disguiseI must warn you nowdon’t try this at home I am after all only a reflection of youThe black dye leaking from my brain is not real merely the faint imaging of a cheap out-of-date copy machinewet with promiseThe blood leaking from … Continue reading The Illusionist by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
He kicked the catout the windowCarved her goldfishup like sushiDinner wasn’t ready on time He wanted it nowAnd I do mean NOW ! Ordered her uppink as rare beef—one tender homemakersimmered in silenceSwallowed her wholeone day at a time The day he beat herbeyond definitionshe navigated commandsin her state-of-the-art kitchenin her gingham apronher cellophane smile She had binge-cleaned and purgedthe entire apartment–worshipping at the altarin bulimic … Continue reading Domestic Goddess by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
They’re everywhere– here therein restaurants in schools in mosques your closet your bed your last paragraph– those curious question marks! Spies with eyes in the back of their headare tracking you like the CIAlike a jealous lover like a digitalized numberon an overnight package Big Brother surveillance cameras the eyes of your computer the eyes of strangers Facebook Twitter Instagramstalking you like a wet dream At the doctor’s office even the stethoscope knows your real name and … Continue reading Sp-eyes by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
We buried him in deep November brown hat brown suit brown shoes Color of sorrow of sepia of sienna of a thousand burnt photographs fading into their horizon Color of the linoleum I scrubbed with a toothbrush the day I was forced to dig my own grave for the crimes I committed like living A hole much smaller than the one in my heart We buried … Continue reading Of Papa Who Sang In the Opera by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
Medusa–from Greek; protectress; guardian The owl and the pussycat went out to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat –Edward Lear 1. How I drowned in my mother’s tears alone and unrocked is the part of the story I leave out– how we shivered and swayed in the shadow of the storm how hurricanes had nothing on my father ! Shiver and sway shiver and sway … Continue reading Glass Nobodies by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
in the pale blue hours of the morning dying streetlamps like fading dreams of ghosts haunt lonely drifters who drag the street nicotine fingers and tattooed promises– the human stains of memory that burn deep and what lingers… how the rear-view mirror reflected in the corner of his eye how the light died beneath my feet Continue reading “smoke” by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
